Ruby vs Jasper
by CondorRadcliff
Summary: Jasper has come to Earth as Peridot's escort, and ends up taking the Crystal Gems prisoner. However, Ruby has escaped, and she's ready to fight! (And then, so is Sapphire!) My 'what if', based on giving Ruby and Sapphire a fight scene in 'Jailbreak'.
1. Lesson One

**Lesson One**

* * *

The situation was dire. Garnet had been beaten, split in two. The Crystal Gems, captured and on their way to an uncertain future. Even Steven had been taken, leaving Earth without protectors.

But in that calamity, a small glimmer of hope. Their captors - that pesky Peridot and a gigantic Jasper - hadn't bothered to make sure their advanced Homeworld technology could hold an organic entity. Steven had taken advantage of this, and escaped from his cell.

Before he could get far, he found and released a small red Gem who introduced herself as Ruby. "Thanks, Steven. Now follow my lead - I have a plan."

"No, I have to go look for my friends-"

Ruby grabbed him by the shoulders. She clearly had strength in her hands, and was just as clearly holding him with deliberate gentleness. "-Sapphire. You have to find Sapphire first. This plan only works if you can find her."

"I don't understand?"

"We'll explain later. You..." Ruby shook her head, as though trying to wake up. "-rrgh!"

"Hey, are you o-"

"I'm having trouble concentrating." Despite herself, she began glancing around. The technology surrounding them, and even the material the ship was built out of, was completely unknown to her. Every small detail reached out at her, dividing what little focus she could direct to present situation. "Steven!" she suddenly yelled.

"Aaah!"

"Explanation later!" Through sheer force of will, Ruby pushed her eyes to look directly into Steven's. The words, what she could remember of the plan, began tumbling out. "We're still in the thermosphere! Pearl should be able to fly it. That Jasper probably followed protocol so we're still above Earth. Find and release Sapphire. We're still at jumping height. It's bigger on the inside! This is a spaceship-"

"I- I still don't..."

Ruby let go of Steven and went to the nearest solid wall, one hand cradling her head as though struggling with a headache. "Con! Cen! TRATE!" she yelled at the wall, before headbutting it repeatedly.

Steven took a step back, then another.

Suddenly, Ruby stopped bashing her head. The cacophony in her mind silenced down to a focus on the plan, like an orchestra that had finished tuning. Forty-eight notes from as many instruments were now just a single tuning fork, emitting a quiet middle A. "Steven Quartz Universe," she said calmly.

As alarming as things had become, hearing his full name stopped his desire to run. "Yes?"

"You are a Crystal Gem. You're going to save all of us today." The plan was clear; her mind was still. "I'll buy you time."

"I still don't- I mean, I'll try..."

Somewhere down the hall, a deep, familiar voice made an aggressively annoyed grunt. Heavy footsteps were making their way towards them. Ruby knew what would come next. "Aaaand now we're out of time." She turned and looked directly into Steven's eyes again. "_Steven Quartz Universe_, you will not 'try' to save us, you are going to save us. Find Sapphire first - she knows what to do."

"...Mm!" he nodded. Ruby knew his full name somehow; only his family and a handful of friends knew it. It wasn't something he carelessly gave out to his enemies, whoever they might be, or strangers.

"Good. Now go!" Ruby pointed down the hallway, in the opposite direction from the grumbling. "Do the Crystal Gems proud!"

She watched him run down the hall for a moment, not totally sure if he would immediately come back. When he was far enough away, she turned back towards the source of the footsteps.

Step by step, the deep-voiced grumblings got louder as they came around a corner. "...can't believe I needed to escort- Peridot! Are you making all that noi-" Jasper rounded the corner and saw Ruby. She fell quiet, her mouth open slightly.

"Hi Jasper," Ruby said confidently.

"Uhh?" Of all the things Jasper had been expecting to see in her ship, a cute little Ruby was not one of them. "Hiiiiii...?"

This confusion in turn begat confusion in Ruby - until it occurred to her that Jasper must not have stuck around earlier to recover her gem on the beach. They were meeting for the first time, then, and that meant there were protocols to follow. (After several thousand years, Sapphire was rubbing off on her.) "My name's Ruby."

"Huh? Oh! My- My name's Jasper."

"It's nice to finally meet you! I've been looking forward to this for a while!" Ruby said with a gleaming smile.

"Really?" Jasper's confusion and awkwardness turned to self-centered charm. "Did you stow away to meet me? Or, I bet you snuck aboard to fight alongside me, against the terrifying Earth Gems!" She struck a confident pose. "Too bad: I already won! Guess you'll just have to settle for listening to me tell the story."

"...Huh." Sapphire had seen a handful of possible responses Jasper might take, transmitting them in Garnet's last few moments along with the plan. Apparent attraction and peacocking had not been one of them, and really just made Ruby feel a little bad about what was going to come next. "Er, that's... not why I'm here, actually."

"Yeah?" Jasper leaned down closer to Ruby, clearly expecting something more personal. "Was there another reason?"

The plan was already not _quite_ lining up with reality. So, Ruby decided to make a slight change of her own, something in line with her own long history on Earth. "Jasper? I'm here to teach you how to fight."

Jasper was quiet for a second, then burst out laughing. "Okay, okay, I'm game!" Her laughter trickled down into a bright smile and general amusement. "What were you going to show me?"

Ruby had already assumed a combat stance: body slightly turned to present a smaller target, weight off of her heels and balanced over the balls of her feet, knees bent, hands lightly balled into fists. "Like I said, I'm going to teach you how to fight."

"_...oh my stars you're adorable_" Jasper whispered to herself.

Ruby ignored it. "We noticed you didn't even try to fight Garnet earlier."

"Huh? The permafusion? Aw, you were watching me earlier?"

The full impact of what she'd said clearly hadn't gotten through. That reaction, certainly, had been one Garnet had predicted as highly likely. (A certain amount of overconfidence was a common Quartz trait, she recalled.) Ruby sighed. "Well, we'll start the lesson slow. Clench your jaw, Jasper."

"Sure, sure," Jasper said, theatrically preparing herself for a fight. "Like thi-"

*_**whukk**_*

Jasper slammed into the wall behind her, her last thought unfinished. It had been a while since anything had last gotten in a clean hit on her, and the unexpected shock meant her senses weren't fully taking in what was happening. "-what?" she heard herself asking quietly. Pain flashing through her being, but not from where she'd contacted the wall. No, her jaw hurt. Her vision caught up, and from where she was and where the Ruby was...

"You? You punched... _me_?" She realized that the cute little Ruby had suddenly burst forward and up, one of her tiny bare fists connecting with her own equally bare, unguarded jaw. She couldn't recall hearing the punch connect, it had happened so quickly, but she could hear her now.

"Lesson one: take your fights seriously." Ruby clenched her fists tighter. "_Now get ready for lesson two!_"


	2. The Difference is Skill

**The Difference Is Skill**

* * *

Jasper pushed herself up from the wall. Confused, she rubbed her jaw and confirmed that, yes, she had in fact been punched there. It still didn't fully register that a Ruby could have that much weight behind a punch, but… her jaw hurt anyway.

The Ruby had resumed her stance from earlier, and seemed to be waiting for her to get up. "Now, when was the last time you actually fought a Gem, ya court ornament?"

"Court-!" Jasper jumped up, rage suddenly taking over. "I'm Yellow Diamond's personal agent, here to apprehe-"

She saw the blow coming this time, barely, but couldn't react in time.

*_**whum**_*

Another bare-handed punch to the chin, but this time she was sent stumbling back along the hall with nothing to stop her. And then she tripped over herself, falling to the floor so that her butt could contribute to what was starting to look like a full-on fight. "How are you doing that?!" she exclaimed, a little embarrassed, as she picked herself up.

"It's called 'punching', pebble. 'Tsa-matter, you don't recognize it? Then _pay attention_…!"

*_**whum**_*

Jasper didn't lose her balance this time. Knowing it was coming helped, but it was still another clean hit to the jaw. To the exact same place, three times in a row, was not an accident - it was a _failure_. She shook her head; not because she was getting woozy, but to try and distract herself from this possibility.

"-'cause this is just a warm-up!" Now the Ruby began moving a little more, bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet and switching from left side to right every so often.

As much as Jasper didn't want to fight an adorable Ruby - in any other circumstance it was unbecoming _bullying_ \- it was beginning to look like she didn't have a choice. "I hope you know, I don't actually want to hurt you," she said, squaring up her shoulders, "but you're forcing the issue, cutie."

"I'm waiting for you to _try_," the Ruby said calmly. With her lead hand, she motioned for Jasper to come forth.

And she did, throwing an enormous fist straight towards the little Ruby...

...only to pull short, stopping it suddenly and right before her face. If she hadn't, she knew, it would have definitely dematerialized the Ruby. And yet, the Ruby hadn't even flinched. She hadn't moved _at all_. "...You're completely serious," Jasper said. "Okay, fine. I won't hold bac-"

*_**thookk**_*

After a moment, when the pain registered, she realized the Ruby had punched her fist, with no less force than before. "-_rrrrgggh_!" Jasper groaned through clenched teeth, trying not to cry out.

"Good. I was gettin' tired of waiting," the Ruby said.

* * *

Her initial read seemed to be pretty accurate, Ruby thought: Jasper was indeed too used to her own strength to have ever needed to compensate with skill. And why not? She was strong enough to not need finesse in her defense _or _her offense, beyond a certain _precision_. But it also meant, well… Ruby smiled. Her plan might end up working out. "You got big fists, Jasper. Don't forget I can hide behind 'em!"

"RRRRRGH!" Jasper growled, throwing a hook.

It didn't connect. Well, no, technically it did - Ruby didn't dodge it completely. She'd hopped onto that enormous orange fist instead, her own hands _behind her back_ in defiant derision. "Welp! Guess I don't even need to _hide_!"

Jasper's sheer confusion was palpable now. There was no way she could claim this had ever happened to her before, though she probably _would_ stay in denial. "Wha…?"

Ruby leapt backwards and landed on the floor. Something about being undefeated propped up an ego like nothing else, she noted to herself. "This is Lesson Two, pebble. Try and learn!" And from there, without giving any indication what she was about to do, she launched into another full-body flying punch.

*_**whmm**_*

This time Jasper was able to dodge a bit, reducing the impact to her chin somewhat. But it was still a direct hit. "Hey, you're gettin' better!" Ruby complimented, deliberately landing within range. "_...finally._"

That did it. Ego fully exposed, Jasper began throwing punch after punch towards Ruby. "AAAARRRRGH!" *_thomthom_ _thom_ _**thomthom**_ _thomthomthom_ **thom**-*

They were heavy punches, all capable of poofing Ruby if they'd hit. But while they were _intended_ for her, she simply dodged them as though they were big orange party balloons gently floating to the ground. "That's your other problem, pebble: you telegraph. Like, a _lot_. I don't even need Future Vision to see what's coming outta you, Jasper, and you know what that makes you? ..._**weak**_."

That must have been the last straw. "I'M NOT WEAK!" Jasper cried out, bringing both fists up and then hammering them down onto the floor in blind rage.

***kkkkrrhkk***

It might not have even been intended to hit Ruby, it missed by so much. Maybe Jasper had suddenly decided that the _floor_ was the cause of all her problems, in a moment of pique. Ruby avoided feeling any real effect by simply jumping away a little. Nonetheless, the floor split open, cracks tearing through the immediate area while jagged slabs of material broke unevenly up and down from their original position.

The tremors subsided after a moment. Jasper had hopefully learned to keep herself in control more, given that she was now having trouble finding her footing in the rubble. Ruby, however, landed on the tips of her toes with one foot, her other leg crossing over her knee in a '4' position, on the highest point she could find. "Then hit me, pebble," she said calmly.

She began assuming different forms, fluidly moving her arms and open leg into various martial positions without shifting from the tip of the green debris. To a human this would be a phenomenal mastery of balance; to a fight-happy Gem, it was a taunting display, confidence and composure calculated to _provoke _the proud.

Jasper clenched, but then suddenly dropped her shoulders and fists in belated understanding of the situation she was _actually_ in. "..._How_ are you doing that?" she growled. Curiosity was beginning to win out.

It was a chance to get through to her, and Ruby didn't want to waste it. "Good - you're wising up. Pay attention: I'm not stronger than you, Jasper, or faster. A Homeworld Ruby probably wouldn't stand a chance against ya', right?"

"No..."

"And why is that, do you think?"

"Because..." Jasper began visibly trying to think it through. "I'm stronger?"

Ruby sighed, stopping in mid-form. So close, and yet so far, she thought. "_Skill_, Jasper. The difference between you and me and all the other Rubies you've known is Skill."

"Hey, I have skills. I'm skilled!"

"Did you learn them from the Humans, as I have?"

"The _Hu_-?! That's a lie. There's no way-"

"-they could teach a Gem something about fighting?" She resumed her forms - specifically, ' The Ten Thousand Warriors and the Mountain', a delicate and slow physical show of patience and determination.

"They're _organic_! What could a Gem possibly learn from them?!"

"They're slow, they're weak, they're inefficient, they age and then die from it. The could have relied on their existing strength, existing in their little niche amongst the natural order. Instead though? They became the rulers of their world, because they _learned_. They improved themselves, they surpassed themselves, they overcame themselves - then, bigger and greater foes and obstacles. There were many humans I could never beat, because they learned how to fight." Ruby repositioned herself back into a straightforward fighting stance, fists clenched and spirit focused. "And I learned from _them_, _**JASPER**_!"

The sudden forcefulness in that tiny voice startled Jasper, but she quickly recovered and assumed her own fighting stance. Her brief embarrassment at flinching from a Ruby quickly turned to anger, and what little curiosity she had vanished.

"They gave me a name: '_Shougeki no Aka-Oni_', _Makkou-fudou-ryu_ _Shihan_! **But you will remember that it is Ruby of the Crystal Gems who stands before you with motive**!" She'd felt a certain disharmony earlier; now, all complexities had melted away against the intensity of a single purpose. "That was the second lesson, pebble! Now learn the third through the **pain** my fists bequeath to you!"

And with that, Ruby leapt forward.


	3. Like You Mean It

**Like You Mean It**

* * *

"_...Flirty, fiery, and forthright, always there for me..._"

Someone was singing, somewhere in the prison block - another prisoner? The cells all looked identical to the one he'd escaped from, so Steven supposed that there wasn't much else to do but sing in them. The little red Gem hadn't given him any directions or anything, and he thought that whoever the jailbird was she might know more about where to find everyone. He knew he had to hurry, though - the floors and walls rumbled a couple of times, like something had taken a wrecking ball to the structural elements.

"_...Daring, dauntless, delightful, stands and never flees..._"

All the cells he'd come across were unoccupied, and therefore didn't have that static-shocky yellow veil of light across their doorways. This made his search somewhat easier, since he could just look down hallways for that light and not have to _explore_. The less he had to move, the better: he knew Peridot might be lurking around.

"_...Knows the true value of love, and when it has to be proved..._"

He could hear the song more and more clearly, as though the singer was always just one more hallway away. It wasn't enough to drown out the sounds that he was now recognizing as that of faraway physical combat, but it was definitely nearby.

"_...Would have fough-_ Steven! Over here!"

He heard his name, just as he began to look down yet another hall.

"Turn your head thirty degrees to the right!"

And there it was, an illuminated cell. Its occupant was a courtly Gem roughly the same size as that red one, as cool and collected as though she were at a garden party. "Hey, are you-" Steven began to ask.

"My name is Sapphire." She curtsied formally, something Steven never expected to see outside of Pearl's lessons in manners. Someone as refined as she appeared and spoke didn't belong in a jail cell, he thought. "I apologize for my bluntness, Steven Quartz Universe, but Ruby sent you to free me. Please do so."

"I- okay!" He quickly shoved a meaty arm into the yellow veil, blocking it as it fell from the ceiling and creating an opening. "Voila! Jailbreak."

The blue Gem, Sapphire, lifted her skirt slightly and sidled out of her cell. "Thank you, Steven - though until we are off this ship you may have only posted my bail. Now, since we are still in a hurry, please take my hand." She held out a gloved hand with effortless grace.

Steven took her hand. "Okay, but I don't under-" She gripped his hand tightly, and began flying down the hall with him. "-stAAAAAAAAAaaaaah!"

"We need to go back for Ruby!" Sapphire shouted over the wind rushing past them. "And there'll be a prisoner manifest too!"

(He would realize later that they had truly been _flying_ down the hall: she did not appear to have legs, nor were they touching the floor at all. If not for the situation they were in he might have liked the experience.)

* * *

*_**whum**_*

Jasper took yet another blow to the chin, the eleventh or so in a row. Her poor defense wasn't for lack of trying - if she blocked, the Ruby found a way through it, and whenever she tried to strike she instead ate a counter-punch. "WHY! CAN'T! I! HIT Y-_errf_"

*_**whum**_*

Another missed opportunity to not take some damage. Jasper was beginning to think something might be wrong with the way she fought, and that the Ruby might have a point. But it was hard. She had to hit a small, constantly moving target who, she had to grudgingly admit, was a better fighter than herself. And as far as the strength of the blows the Ruby kept lan-

*_**whum**_*

-ding? They weren't doing any real damage. Sure, they were powerhouse blows she could expect from some Gem her own hulking size, but warriors like herself were naturally superior at taking and dealing damage.

*_**whum**_*

More concerning, though, was that those hits had all been landing in the exact same spot on her chin without exception! No matter how well she protected it, she'd get punched there - _hard_ \- a few moments later. There was probably some truth to the Ruby's claims of learning skill from the Humans.

*_**whum**_*

...which meant that it was probably wise to avoid them all entirely. Yellow Diamond was right: the best option would be to simply erase the planet from the stars, organic life and all. To not give them a chance to fight back was the best strategy, and it might be best to not antagonize them at all...

*_**whum**_*

This skill the Ruby had learned! There was no other explanation for her holding her own against a personal agent of the Diamonds. The same punch, to the same place over and over! Attempting to stop it was _madness_; if it didn't work the first time what use was-

*_**whu**_-*

"Hah?" Jasper gasped in surprise. Another one of those impossibly heavy blows had landed on her - but it was her forearm that registered pain... and _not _her jaw. She'd properly blocked! And while she marvelled at the change, the Ruby laughed and jumped back out of reach.

"Well how 'bout that? 'Guess even you'll learn if I keep doing the same thing over and over again," the Ruby said, impressed and smiling brightly. "But practice is only half the battle, pebble."

Jasper saw the Ruby coil herself, and moved to block the punch like she'd successfully done last-

*_**whum**_*

She blocked that one too, and more successfully than the previous one. It was no more or less as powerful as the others, and yet she tumbled backwards, the inertia bleeding through until her butt met the floor. "But I- I blocked it?" she said, mostly to herself.

"Yeah, you did." The Ruby looked and sounded disappointed. "But you're blocking like you don't have to."

Jasper picked herself up off the floor, for only the second time in her existence. "What's the difference?" she asked without a shred of ego.

"Pebble, I'm hitting you with everything I got! That means I involve every point of articulation I have between my foot on the floor-" the Ruby tapped the floor "-and your clay jaw against my fist. _Watch!_"

The Ruby began to demonstrate how she'd been moving herself with deliberate slowness, as Jasper watched obediently. First her foot shifted, then her ankle, shin, knee, thigh - leaving out the jump itself but making it clear it was an option. Movement flexed throughout her small frame, gradually propelling her fist forward, until finally she extended her arm at the elbow. It was as perfect a punch as Jasper had ever seen. "It doesn't matter how well you block, or strike, if you don't do it like you mean it," the Ruby said.

"...No!" Jasper's ego suddenly flared back. "I put _every_ last bit of my force into-"

"-wrecking your own ship!" The Ruby thumbed back at the hallway they'd fought through earlier. And indeed, the hallway was badly damaged, entirely from Jasper's missed blows. "Stop _feelin_' confident and hit and block and fight and win with _everything_ you got!"

It struck as a revelation, like a bolt of electric discharge. The Ruby was right: she had been holding back, even after repeated warnings, partly due to her back not being hopelessly up against a wall but mostly because she had been _badly_ misreading her situation. She'd missed, repeatedly, while the Ruby _didn't_ \- all due to the gap in how much they needed it.

"Heh. I think I get it now. Fight like it's the last thing before it breaks you."

The Ruby shrugged. "...well, close enough." It wasn't lost on Jasper that she was smiling again.

"..._ruuubyyyy!_" A new voice wafted through the air, small at first but increasing in clarity as though approaching with great speed.

"Sapph-"

Jasper didn't notice the Ruby turn in distraction. She didn't notice the change in herself either, or that her fist flew forth without the usual boost from confidence or anger or hatred. What she felt, she didn't recognize - the _opposite_ of doubt, whatever that was - but could tell that it filled her. For the first time, she'd thrown a punch with her full strength truly unified behind it.

***thoom***

And to her surprise, it connected. It was a clean hit, a full-strength warrior Gem blow meant to end a fight, exactly the sort of thing Jasper had never truly had to do before against any opponent. The force of it slammed the Ruby back towards a wall and through it, then through a second wall, but not quite through the third.

When the dust settled… _she hadn't dematerialized_. It had been enough, and yet it hadn't been enough! "You- you blocked. When I couldn't even see it," Jasper said.

"Yep!" The Ruby hopped back up, smiling, mostly if not _entirely_ uninjured. "Hope you remember what I taught you here, because…"

"Because?" Something about the expectation in the Ruby's tone concerned her.

"You'll see-"

The Ruby seemed like she was going to say more, but Jasper couldn't have heard it. At that moment, something collided _into_ Jasper's chest with tremendous speed. It was something big and moving fast, or maybe something small and moving _very_ fast - either way, air she couldn't recall ever breathing in got crushed out of her.

Jasper crumpled down to the floor, not even getting the embarrassing mercy of falling onto her butt, as much pain as she'd ever felt at one time radiating out from her torso; it was only when her forehead touched the floor that she realized she'd practically been bent in half forwards. A moment later, an intense gust of air blew past. "...?!" she gasped, and summoned the strength to look up painfully.

A small blue Gem in courtly wear - a Sapphire, and one of great clarity at that - now stood in the hall, cracking her knuckles loud enough to echo. Hair covered her eyes (eye?), but below it she wore a placid expression that was both grace incarnate and still left no doubt about the _infinite explosion of anger_ hiding beneath.

Jasper was reminded of a time when she'd completed a mission and had to report directly to Yellow Diamond. The immense, crushing pressure. The cold glare she didn't need to see to _feel_ cutting through the air. The freeze of all dissenting opinions and _facts_ in the presence of true, absolute clarity.

"Remain there for a moment, Jasper. I will attend to you shortly," The Sapphire said. It was not phrased or voiced as a command, nor did it need to be.


	4. Denim-Clad Wanderer

**Denim-Clad Wanderer**

* * *

"_RUUUUBBBYYYY_-oh whoops, I distracted her."

In the fraction of a moment in which Steven hadn't been paying attention, Sapphire had let go of his hand and somehow attached a drag chute to him. She continued onwards at blinding speed while he slowed down - surprised again at his own durability, given that the chute was attached to his arm.

He came to a stop just in time to see Sapphire collide with Jasper at full speed. It was like a fastball being caught by a catcher, except with more intentional pain.

* * *

"Are you okay?" Sapphire asked. She took her eye off of Jasper and focused on Ruby in the other room. The question was perfunctory - she already had a good guess as to how hurt and not hurt everyone was - but it was important to let her know she cared.

Ruby smiled and brushed pieces of fractured wall off herself. "Yeah! Jasper hits like Pearl!"

Sapphire crossed her arms. "So, I see you've deviated from our plan a little?" Again, a completely unnecessary question - it happened often enough that she knew what Ruby was trying to do.

"Ehhhhhhhh-maybe?" Ruby shrugged and put on her **Poker Face of Innocence**.

It was as convincing as a puppy's. "You should have just finished her off, you know," Sapphire laughed.

"Well yeah, but: _she hits like Pearl_," Ruby said with complete seriousness. "I wanted to make sure, y'know, Round Two isn't too one-sided."

"Really, Ruby? You're teaching _another_ one?"

"Yup! Wanna take a turn?"

Sapphire sighed. "Only if you help Steven find the prisoner manifest. There's a console near where he is." She pointed back down the hall towards Steven, who was still on the floor but had recovered enough to wave.

Ruby climbed out from the other room, through the holes she'd made. "Okay! I think I can figure it out."

"...I hate to break up your conversation, Your Clarity, but I need both of you to return to your cells," Jasper said with annoyance.

"_Jasper, you will stand perfectly still and wait until I am ready to kick you face-first through the hull. _Is. That. Clear?"

Jasper was silent for a moment. "Crystal, Your Clarity."

"Hey, Saffy? She has to learn. Don't shatter her."

"..._fine_." Sapphire watched as Ruby went over to Steven. They weren't out of earshot, and leaving them within sight of Jasper wasn't a particularly wise idea. Still, she foresaw no major problems, and so turned back towards Jasper (_standing perfectly still_) with resigned inevitability.

"Now, Jasper, before we begin: a few things you must know."

"I don't want to fight a Sapphire, Your Clarity. Just so you know."

"Too bad. First! The only reason you will not be shattered today is because two other Gems have voted against it. You continue to exist _entirely_ thanks to their mercy."

"Huh? Two?"

"Second! You have injured three Gems I care about, and that is why the concept of 'mercy' ought to be of cardinal importance to you right now."

"Now it's three?"

"Third! I expect that Ruby attempted to teach you the effective uses and applications of strength. From me you shall _learn_ the value of speed, if you _learn_ anything at all. Are you prepared?"

"Y-yes?"

Sapphire cracked her knuckles one last time, then assumed a stance. Within that single movement she changed her clothes from a courtesan's dress to that of a denim-clad wanderer of wastelands and battlefields (something Amethyst had suggested). "Then know that you face Sapphire of the Crystal Gems: Tenth Master of the Seven-Star Razor Gale School, occasionally feared as the Blue Demon of Sound."

The strange paralysis Jasper had felt suddenly wore off, replaced by the exhilaration of battle, in time for her to notice that Sapphire had seemingly disappeared... only to reappear in a flying kick to the jaw.

***kkoom***

* * *

"Is she gonna be okay?" Steven asked.

"Aww, she'll be fine. I told Sapphire not to break her-"

"No, I mean..." Steven looked back. Sapphire appeared to be throwing hundreds of punches at once - almost too quickly for the eye to follow - at the much larger Jasper, who couldn't respond to it in any meaningful way. Specifically, Sapphire was punching _upwards_ and keeping Jasper floating in the air with the impacts. "...never mind?"

"Steven, look at me. Listen: Sapphy worked out what was going to happen here, before we ever left Earth. She knew you'd escape, she knew she'd be fine, she knew I'd meet Jasper and fight her. The, ah... _details_ ended up being a little different-" Ruby blushed for a moment as she said this, for no reason Steven could see "-but so far everything's still going according to plan, and you're part of it. We're sorry we couldn't warn you ahead of time about any of this. Now, I know how weird this all is, but we need you to do your part. I promise, we'll explain everything later. Do you understand? Nod if you do."

Steven nodded.

"Good. It's a hard ask, but that's what the Crystal Gems _do_." Ruby gently tapped Steven's shoulder with her fist, then pointed at the panel embedded in the wall. "Now, uh, can you help me figure this out? I think it's one of those 'touch screen' dealies?" She poked at a seemingly random spot, and a bunch of new icons and windows popped up. "_Ahh_!"

Steven studied the screen. "Hmmm." It was indeed a 'touch screen dealie', but was in a format and language unknown to him and as truly foreign as anything he'd ever seen. For a second, he thought it might even be _Welsh_. "I can't read this," he admitted.

"Well, _I_ can't use it." To prove her point, she poked the screen again. Even though she'd touched an apparently blank spot nowhere near anything, the visible icons all highlighted. A new window popped up, this one flashing bright red. "But I guess I know how to almost, uh, 'format the main memory'? _Whoops_."


	5. Counterattack

**Counterattack**

* * *

Sapphire had the rare and valuable ability to see some ways into the future. As useful as it was, it was in many ways a burden, particularly in how it prevented her from seeing much outside of preordained fate. Over the millennia on Earth she had learned how to ignore it, to see the present without getting lost in eventualities, to live in and enjoy the moment.

As such, she presently felt no need to use such an ability, as she rained blow upon blurred blow upon the giant orange curry loaf foolish enough to face her. "This is disappointing, Jasper."

Jasper tried to respond, but appeared to be having trouble speaking through the beating, only getting out senseless individual sounds every other moment: "_-a-bu-ga-tu-ku-ja-va-"_

"You beat Garnet, supposedly, so I had high expectations of you! And yet here you are, unable to move or react to someone so much weaker than you! Answer, Jasper! Explain why I should give you even a hope of a counterattack!"

"_-nu-leh-wk-bq-xe-mo-_"

"_Seven-Star Razor Gale: Dust Devil_! This is not even a high-level technique, Jasper - but perhaps I should show you one!" Sapphire increased the intensity of her punches momentarily, forcing Jasper a little higher into the air, before suddenly stopping. She flipped back into a handstand and then pushed off the floor, closing the distance between her and Jasper so quickly that she appeared to disappear...

Until she slammed a small foot into the approximate equivalent of a solar plexus in Jasper's chest.

The rest of Jasper's body once again folded in towards that one point, while a foot-sized mound appeared on the other side, as though Sapphire had _nearly_ kicked through to her back. Jasper hung in the air for a moment, as though time had stopped to admire the view, then rocketed into the ceiling with tremendous force. And then, once she'd bounced off of the now-damaged ceiling, she came crashing back to the floor, bouncing off of it before landing a second time. "...what?" she asked, stunned.

"_Seven-Star Razor Gale: Steam Geyser._ It is an intermediate technique, within the ninety-eight techniques of the Seven-Star Razor Gale School!" She thumbed her nose at Jasper. "As you are now, you stand no chance of countering it."

With obvious effort and pain, Jasper slowly pushed herself up and onto her feet. "No! Y-you just blindsided me."

"Perhaps I have. Very well! I grant to you a free hit." Sapphire spread her arms out in a taunting flourish, no longer making any attempt at defense whatsoever. "You may _try_ to strike me when you are ready."

"I'm a Jasper- No, I'm _the_ Jasper, the Jasper among Jaspers! You two've just been gettin' LUCKY!" Now, for the first time since she'd returned to the ship, Jasper began to move with purpose, with intent. Her recent education more or less completely forgotten (yet absorbed and internalized nonetheless), she flew forward, the sum of her rage and frustration fueling the mightiest of punches at the little blue gem in front of her.

Her fist went _through_ Sapphire, her arm and shoulder and body following soon after. No Gem weaker than a _Diamond_ could possibly survive such a hit in one piece.

...but when Jasper stood upright again, she noticed that was no telltale sound of dematerialization. No Gem remaining behind, clattering on the floor. No lingering regret from the defeated. In fact there was nothing there, in that spot she'd thrown all her strength into.

"Hey, wha-"

"You may have missed me, Jasper. Try again," Sapphire said, from right behind Jasper.

"_AAAAAAARRRRRRRRHHHHHhhhhhhhHHHHH!_" Moving as fast as she ever had, Jasper swung around and again leapt towards Sapphire, again throwing her full self and soul into dissipating her enemy.

Again she landed, and again she noticed she hadn't hit anything or anyone. "RRRRRrrrgh! HOW are you...?!"

"Try again, Jasper." Once again, Sapphire was standing where Jasper had just taken her attention away from.

This time, Jasper was more careful. Rock-headed one-track fighter she might be, but she hadn't gotten her rank and position by doing the same thing over and over until the result changed (she thought). This time, when she jumped towards Sapphire and threw the same full-strength punch as before, she held back at the last moment.

The Gem she'd been aiming for, simply wasn't there! She _had_ been there, but now wasn't. Instead she'd left behind an image of some kind, hovering in the empty air - no, _consisting of _empty air. After a moment it fizzled out of existence, leaving behind no trace that it had ever been there at all. Worse, it didn't have the usual physical signs of a hologram or Gem power-related duplicate. "An afterimage... _without mass_?!" Jasper gasped.

"_Seven-Star Razor Gale: Mirage Dance._" This time, Sapphire reappeared where Jasper happened to be looking: she simply hadn't been there one moment, but was by the next. "By moving with extreme rapidity and focus, it's possible to fool the senses of your opponent - Human, _or_ Gem. Jasper? I strongly recommend keeping your distance from the Humans. There's much they can teach us Gems, but if you show them the disrespect of your existence they will turn their considerable skills upon you."

"That's impossible. Those organics can't beat a Gem..."

"Six thousand years is but a few moments to an existence such as ours, but to the Humans it is two hundred generations: time enough to perfect an invincible fighting art. The Seven-Star Razor Gale School teaches _all_ that a puny organic lifeform needs to stand toe-to-toe with us Gems." She took up a balanced stance. "And yet... they were kind enough to teach me."

"So what? I should learn from you, Your Clarity?" Jasper snarled. "You're teaching me how to fight too?"

Sapphire chuckled. "Perhaps that is the difference between our schools. Ruby was trying to teach you skill; I am showing you _how little you know_."

"I'm too strong for you to beat! That Ruby couldn't beat me, and the Crystal Gems were like pebbles-"

"Even though you never fought them?"

"_Especially_ because I never fought them!"

"Jasper. First a Ruby and then a Sapphire have been kicking your shock-absorbing butt up and down this spaceship. _Are you sure_ you're good at reading your opponents?"

What physical blows couldn't do, words finally did: Jasper stumbled, the shock of realization nearly knocking her down onto a knee. "I... I...!"

Sapphire began speaking quickly, to deny Jasper time to disagree. "You have confidence, but you let it grow into hubris. How effective are you, _alone_? That wonderful strength of yours - did it lead you to victory over a couple of smaller gems? You had to use a _destabilizer_ to beat Garnet - so how truly useful is that _strength_ of yours?"

"Shut up- shu_UT! UUP!_" Jasper could only hold her head, as though struck with a monstrous headache.

"You didn't _beat_ the Crystal Gems - you captured them! A _warrior_ like you, as powerful as you, as legendary as you! Accepting anything less than your opponents' total defeat! _What faith_ your leader must have in you, to come and do a Peridot's job! Did you plan the operation, or did you merely take over once some other Gem did all the work for you? And that anger of yours! It's not because these are all lies, is it. A _warrior_! As _great_ as you! Getting slapped around by words. In your _own_ ship, by your own _escaped prisoners_! What was the point of-"

The lights in the hallway flickered. "Ooops, sorry!" Steven yelled from further down.

"No, that's alright Steven. You just keep working on that," Sapphire replied, her voice suddenly calm and measured. "Please send Ruby over when you're done though?"

"I-" Jasper began.

"_Hmmm?_" Sapphire resumed her trash talking. "Finally come up with a convenient lie to prop up your useless strength, O _Great_ and _Legendary_ Warrior? Or has it hit you finally, that your existence thus far has only been to use the one trait you have that marks you as anything other than a total, abject, less-than-organic... _**failure**_."

"No! NO! I'm not a FAILURE!" Jasper's rage reached critical mass, pushing aside any questioning feelings she'd been forced to feel. "I'M! THE! JASPER!"

With renewed vigor, Jasper equipped her weapons - her crash helmet and mantle - and charged at Sapphire. "CHAMPION OF THE GEM WAR!"

She dodged, seeming to show no effort at it. But Jasper continued to strike, anticipating the approximate location Sapphire would be in. "HAND OF THE DIAMONDS!"

Jasper's attacks began substituting accuracy and sheer strength for speed and quantity. When before she attempted to strike once with overwhelming force, she now immediately followed up faster, weaker attacks with a leg sweep, or a sudden back kick, or a full spin with her hair and mantle. "SHATTERER OF TRAITORS!"

Through all this, Sapphire found a moment to use her speed and suddenly appear right in front of Jasper's face, fully within her reach. She added, with a whisper: "_And misser of punches._"

"RRRrrrrrRRRR!"

Before Jasper could react, Sapphire began throwing a flurry of blows - punches, kicks, elbows, sweeps, pushes, chops. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of them, faster than the eye could see and the body could feel. Unlike with the Dust Devil from before there wasn't any pushback to them. In fact, they seemed to lack weight or force entirely.

It was over before Jasper could react. With one last literal poke to the jaw, Sapphire jumped back and landed on the floor. Jasper felt where she'd been hit, trying to find pain, asking (mostly to herself) "That- that didn't hurt?"

"It was not supposed to," Sapphire replied. "Incidentally, did you know that it's possible to replicate the effect of a Gem Destabilizer, with harmonic strikes alone?"

"Harmo-_HFF_!" Jasper's upper left arm suddenly quadrupled in volume, like a balloon that had suddenly inflated to full capacity and was ready to _pop_. She quickly exerted control over her inadvertent shapeshifting, and her arm returned to its original size.

Then her left leg _twisted_ backwards at the hip. "ERRH!" And as she responded to that, her fingers all snapped back, her knuckles flattening against the backs of her hands. Her elbows split into two, her head expanded to the size of her torso and enveloped her gem, her legs duplicated themselves... With each new change, Jasper desperately attempted to return her form to normal, succeeding each time, but as soon as one body part returned to normal another refused to listen.

Eventually the Cronenberging stopped. Jasper was in her normal form again, thoroughly exhausted by the strength she'd had to expend on herself. "How-! How did-?!" she gasped.

"_Seven-Star Razor Gale: Harmonic Dance_," Sapphire stated calmly. "It won't work on fellow Humans - this is something they created for specific use on Gems." She tapped her own nose, indicating Jasper's gem. "Our forms are energy - mass and volume - flowing from our gems, dictated by signals from the same. Interrupting those signals is how we shapeshift. And yet, those signals can be altered from external forces. You _are_ strong, Jasper. But at the same time, you should not think you're invincible."

"That was nothing!" Jasper stood up again, though clearly winded. "You! Your puny Human skills! Keep 'em comin'! I'll take anything you throw at me! BECAUSE! I'M! JASPER!"

"_Nah._" Ruby, taking advantage of Jasper's distraction, had approached her from behind. "I think we're done teaching you-"

Jasper whipped around, her instinct ordering her to block. But Ruby was just standing there, unperturbed. _Waiting_.

Then Sapphire suddenly flitted into vision to Ruby's left. "-and testing you,"

"Hey, just a little advice, one fighter to another? You probably wanna get rid of that enormous glass jaw of yours. And that cape, and maybe slim up a little - that extra volume's slowin' you down," Ruby added.

The two smaller Gems smiled. Side by side, and _together_.


	6. The Strongest

**The Strongest**

* * *

"Oh, great. _Both_ of you."

"Yup, we're together now." Ruby raised her left fist straight out at Jasper, which Sapphire met with her own right fist. Then they tapped them together with a grin, and opened their hands. Their gems sparkled next to each other, palm to palm.

"Are you _sure_ you don't recognize us?" Sapphire asked.

Jasper's brow furrowed. (Loathe as she was to admit it, after the beating she'd taken, she wasn't about to disregard anything they deigned to tell her.) "Why? You're just a Ruby and... Sapph-" Realization hit her. It was a little before her time, but she'd heard the stories. A walking strategic weapon of planetary effect, and the three specially-made 'bodyguards' assigned to protect everyone _else_ from her. "...aw stars," she whispered.

Ruby closed her fist. "You're about to have a bad time, Jasper: you angered an Eternal Flame-"

"-and the Unyielding Frost." Sapphire closed her own fist. "But more than that-"

"-you hurt our fusion!" Ruby, her focus pointed at a single goal again, gestured theatrically. "This? _All_ this fighting? It's all been for one single reason."

"Garnet wanted a rematch - no, a _real_ fight. And we need you to be the best opponent you can be, for her sake." As Sapphire spoke, a pair of solid, grayish-blue boots appeared on her feet.

"You aren't that, not as you are now." Ruby's gauntlet appeared over her arm. "So we're gonna hafta beat you until you are. ...Steven!" she shouted.

"Y-yeah?" Steven asked, back by the panel. Things had progressed well past anything he'd ever encountered before. Yet, he wasn't afraid. The two little Gems were familiar in a way he couldn't identify. Something in his feelings told him they weren't strangers, even though he'd never met them before.

"We'll see you again soon, okay?" Ruby nodded at Sapphire. "Ready, Sapphire?"

"Whenever you are, Ruby."

"Good!" Ruby crouched slightly, once again preparing for a punch, while Sapphire simply disappeared faster than the speed of sight.

As ready as Jasper thought she could be, the shock of realizing who she'd actually been fighting this whole time weighed on her. Their advice took on new meaning, as did the thought that they had _really_ been holding back against her. They could've _crushed_ her and the ship they were on in moments, and it looked like the only reason they didn't was because she'd _accidentally_ taken hostages.

And they weren't about to give her time to reflect on her mistakes.

Ruby hit first, a slower punch that Jasper could easily block. Then Sapphire struck with a single-leg flying kick that was also slower than what she'd displayed before, and just as blockable. Their lack of speed meant it was only due to the weapons they'd equipped that those strikes even barely hurt at all.

They stayed there for a moment. Time hadn't bent to their benefit or anything; the two were undeniably _hovering_ in the air, pushing relatively gently against Jasper's blocking arms. The moment became a full second, giving her time to wonder: was that all an Eternal Flame and the Unyielding Frost were capable of?

But then, the force they were exerting began to increase. The usual rules of inertia mattered less and less. They were _pushing_ against her arms, slowly but noticeably.

"_BLAAAAAZIIIIIING PUUUNCH!_" Ruby began to glow red. The top part of her gauntlet lifted up and slid down her arm a little, exposing a shining yellow star mark that started to spin. Her gauntlet grew brighter with power while her own excess heat boiled off behind her, creating a heat haze in empty air. Then suddenly the haze ignited into a pair of burning red wings from her shoulders, creating increasing amounts of thrust

"_Blizzard! KIIIIIIIIIICK!_" Sapphire began glowing blue. The side of her lead boot parted, revealing its own yellow, spinning star while it started glowing with power. In the frosty haze around her, it was as though the movement and motion of molecules were slowing down to make way for the true end of all things. Wings - cold and clear, beautiful in the desolation they represented - crystalized from her shoulders; they flicked about and then vibrated too fast to see, pushing her forward.

The two winged Gems' speed continued to increase. Jasper realized she'd miscalculated in blocking them, trapped between two alarmingly equal levels of force. "_No_," she whispered.

Soon she was using her full strength to press against them. "_No!_"

Then, as though slowly but finally winning an inevitable arm-wrestling match, they exceeded her strength. "_NOOO!_"

They broke through her defense - and then breached the limits of her physical form. In the moment Ruby and Sapphire crossed inside of Jasper, their two bright antipodes of energy met as a single bright spark. The spark expanded outward, bursting through every last cubic measure of volume that made up her body - until it reached her gem.

***poof***

* * *

Jasper had never felt this feeling before. She always imagined it would hurt a little but it felt… calm, instead. Her form, she knew, was going to disappear; as far as her gem was concerned it already had.

Her consciousness floated in a river of light, free of the emotions and sensations shackling her. It was a single mote of an instant, one that didn't seem to exist within the flow of time and therefore _continuing_. Jasper knew she was Jasper, but here 'Jasper' didn't exist and she was no one and nothing but herself. The river seemed to flow forever in all directions and dimensions, though she couldn't see enough to confirm this. All she could do was float, and think.

"_You've got potential_," a red voice said.

"_Not many could survive that_," a blue voice said.

"But I lost," her own orange voice said. After a moment it added "I want to win."

"_Then come back stronger_," the red voice said. "_Lose some of that mass though; optimize yourself for your goal_."

"_Focus on what you really want_," the blue voice added. "_Victory is meaningless without celebration_."

"I want to win," her orange voice said. But there was no answer.

"I want to win."

"I want to win."

"I want to win…"

She was alone in the river for an impossible amount of time, as it steadily grew more distinctly orange in color.

* * *

From where Steven was, it was impossible to tell whether Jasper had poofed before or after the red and blue glows had landed again. They'd generated an enormous gust he had to brace himself against (he'd find out later that this was a side effect of making sure their forces were equally balanced - he would have burned up or frozen solid if they weren't careful), and he only really saw the aftermath. The burst that came with the poofing was nearly lost in the tempest, and the dust it had kicked up made it hard to see.

"Sapphy? Sapphy!" Steven heard Ruby exclaim worriedly.

"It's okay, I'm here." Sapphire sounded relieved. "Worry more about Steven."

A small form suddenly grabbed Steven and pulled him into a hot yet rapidly cooling hug. "I'm so sorry, Steven! You must've been so scared!" He couldn't see her, but she sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

Another form pulled him into a hug, this time from the opposite side and quickly warming to a safe temperature. "This was supposed to be a surprise. Well, _she_ wanted to keep it a surprise; _we_ should've prepared you better."

"It's okay, guys. Ruby, Sapphire - it's okay. We're all okay." The dust began to settle as they continued to hug. They were closer to Steven's own size than the other Crystal Gems, and he liked the feeling, but something finally occurred to him. "...I should go help the others." He carefully let go of them, as though doing so might cause them to disappear.

"Yeah. We're, ah, still on this spaceship," Ruby said.

"You should have done it while we were fighting, Steven," Sapphire said with a sigh.

"But now we _know_ you're okay!" Ruby exclaimed happily, pulling him in for another hug.

"Steven, do you know where to go?" Sapphire asked.

"I think so. What about you guys? Where are you going?"

Ruby laughed. "Well, it's not gonna be a surprise now, but..." She darted over to Sapphire and picked her up in a bridal carry. Then she kissed her on the cheek with a wink, making her giggle in embarrassment.

And then, in a flash of light Steven was beginning to recognize, Ruby and Sapphire fused into Garnet. "Hey Steven," she said. "Sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

"Whaaaaa_AAAAAAAAAaaaaa_AAAAT!" The shock remained with him, but his legs still carried him to her, and his arms closed around her into yet another hug. "You're a fusion?!"

"Y-yeah." Garnet was uncharacteristically sheepish. "They could've just told you; it's not supposed to be _that_ big a secret, just a birthday surprise. _Other_ reagents aren't that embarrassing..." she added to herself.

"This is amAZING! Are you as strong as they are?"

"That's a good question, permafusion..." a third voice asked, back in the dust. With a single movement of a thick orange arm, the dust cleared; Jasper had reformed. (And perhaps having taken some advice, now had a smaller jawline with an overall less bulky frame, and no mantle.) "_Are you?_" she growled.

Garnet stood up. "It's time. Go free the others." She patted him gently on the shoulder.

"What about you? Are you gonna be okay?"

"I'll be okay, Steven." Garnet smiled, her three eyes gleaming. "_We're_ the strongest one here!"

From somewhere, a song began...

**The End**

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_I always thought it was a shame Ruby and Sapphire never got a chance to fight properly. My headcanon is that Ruby was assigned as Sapphire's bodyguard because she was an extremely proficient fighter and could think on her feet - this translates into someone who learns new skills to compensate for their weaknesses. We know Sapphire's fast and a little stronger than she looks, so I gave her a style that would take advantage of that. (The models were, respectively, Master Asia and Kenshiro.) _

_Ruby comes off as uncharacteristically aloof towards Steven when they first meet in Jailbreak, given how Garnet knows she's a parent to him. This is why I deliberately changed her - and Sapphire's - interactions with him towards the familial. (I also find it easiest to write fusions as being akin to the children of their reagents; my related headcanon is that Garnet, stiff-faced and modern in her love, is a little embarrassed by her old-fashioned lovey-dovey 'parents'.)_

_It took a while to find the right tone for the story and characterization (basically not until I started writing the part where Sapphire fights Jasper), and that had consequences in the editing stage. The first chapter is completely rewritten from the first draft; the second and third are about 60% rewritten; the fourth originally ended with Sapphire kicking Jasper, with the last part getting moved up from the fifth chapter to add some length; the fifth and sixth mostly survived the editing process, though the 'river of light' bit was a last-minute addition. There were comparatively few edits in the second half, so I got them all done in one sitting; the first half required so many that each chapter took a weekend to untangle. Ruby's motivation was originally all over the place - this was by far the single biggest factor for the unusually long editing stage._

_The song Sapphire sings is in my Filk album: _My Gallant Protector Ruby.

_Also, to the reader from Bosnia and Herzegovina: Zdravo! That's not a region I ever expected I'd get a reader from, and I'm glad to have you!_

_I think that's all. This story was kinda hard to write for me. If I stop and think about it for any amount of time, every aspect of the concept and ideas that fuel it are ridiculous. So, I just lost myself in the writing. Hope you like it, thanks for reading, and feel free to leave a comment!_

_-Condor_


End file.
